Close Enough
by loveandallthat
Summary: He knows he'll never be as important to him as Sasuke is, always will be. But he's his friend. And it's close enough. Almost. AU. SasuNaru, onesided ShikaNaru.


Title: Close Enough

Summary: He knows he'll never be as important to him as Sasuke. But he's still his friend. And it's close enough. AU.

Pairings: None, Sasuke/Naruto and Shikamaru/Naruto friendship.

Warnings: Attempted suicide, foul language

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything else to which I allude, or anything else I mention by name.

--

Naruto was in his apartment, lying on his bed in his underwear and the shirt he'd worn that day, talking to his best friend Sasuke on his cell phone. But Sasuke wasn't acting himself this time. The last time he had sounded like this…

"Where are you right now? Do you want me to come over?" Naruto asked him.

"No. I'm in my apartment, and there's nothing I want less than for you to come see me right now."

Naruto hesitated. "Well, okay, I guess. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah… maybe." Sasuke hung up.

Maybe?

Naruto stared at his phone, watching the 'call ended' message fade away. The last time Sasuke had sounded like that…

Naruto had found him asleep on the roof of his building. When he woke up, he claimed he had 'fallen asleep thinking'. Naruto claimed that was total bullshit. But he'd let it go, that time.

Maybe?

Shit. Shit! "Shit!" he screamed, realization dawning. He jumped up and ran around his room, putting on his pants and shoes before sprinting out the door.

He ran straight past his roommate, Shikamaru, who was staring at his accelerated advanced mathematical theory homework, debating whether or not to do it.

"Naruto? Where's the fire?" he asked. Naruto didn't respond. That itself was bad enough, but as Naruto ran past, Shikamaru caught his expression. Was he… crying?

Damn. Something had to be seriously wrong. Shikamaru stood and ran after Naruto.

Only for you…

It was troublesome, chasing after Naruto. He ran really fast. Shikamaru usually wouldn't do this much work for someone, but he had to right now. Number one, because this seemed really important, for Naruto to be this serious. And number two, because it was Naruto. He didn't know what it was, but he wanted to follow him.

Hard to believe he hadn't noticed he was being followed. It was so horribly unlike him.

Naruto. The idiot blonde who had changed Shikamaru's entire outlook on life, and even made him begin to try. He didn't know why, but he admired Naruto.

Naruto was picking up speed, so Shikamaru forced himself to go faster as well. He recognized the area now. This was where Sasuke lived.

Shikamaru didn't approve of Naruto's choice of friends at all. Sasuke was a broody, depressed, bastard who only gave a damn about himself and his family. But even though Shikamaru didn't understand the appeal, he found himself caring about Sasuke, purely because of how important he was to Naruto. And was he ever.

Shikamaru grew up watching Naruto try to prove himself to Sasuke, and Sasuke try to ignore him. Those attempts were futile, of course. Nobody could merely ignore Naruto. And so they became best friends, while Shikamaru watched.

He had seen it coming, of course. He was a genius, after all. And while he came up with exactly 23 good and 28 tolerable ways to stop it from happening, he couldn't. He had found something to make him care: friendship.

They were in front of Sasuke's building now. Shikamaru was pretty sure he knew where they were headed. The roof. Exactly where he had hinted that Naruto would be able to find Sasuke the last time he got like this. He still didn't give a crap about the asshole personally. But he couldn't let anything cause Naruto any pain, especially if he had to know forever that he could have prevented.

He ran after Naruto throught the lobby, where the women behind the desk demanded to know where they were headed. Naruto's steps didn't falter, so Shikamaru's didn't either.

Naruto glanced at the elevators, but the dials over them revealed that they were both on the top floor. Shit. What were they odds of that?

Shikamaru, of course, had already calculated it without really meaning to. 1 in 900, actually. He didn't hesitate to turn the corner immediately after Naruto, toward the stairs. Thirty fucking floors. Fantastic. He caught the door after Naruto went through, before it had a chance to shut.

He started to fall behind Naruto. Where did the kid get all that energy? He'd been like that forever, but with the determination he was clearly feeling now, he was running substantially faster.

Was Sasuke really on the roof again? Was he more serious this time? Shikamaru was nervous, more so than he had been in months.

Ridiculously out of breath, and at least a floor behind Naruto, Shikamaru reached the roof. Without hesitating, he opened the off-limits door and climbed the remaining distance.

When he was out there, he saw it. Two hands, hanging off of the side of the building. And a crazed Naruto running for them.

He caught them, thank God. But as Shikamaru ran to join Naruto, it looked like Sasuke's left hand was slipping from Naruto's right. Shikamaru's brain immediately went through possible scenarios, all in less than a second.

If Sasuke's hand slipped completely, he would be very suddenly applying all of his force to Naruto's left, and slightly weaker, hand. Knowing Naruto, he wouldn't let go. That would make it extremely likely that the abrupt weight would likely cause Naruto to fall with Sasuke.

So Shikamaru was left with two options. The first, to grab Naruto. That way, Naruto would stay on the roof with him. However, Sasuke would almost certainly slip from Naruto's grip, and fall.

Or, he could grab Sasuke's left hand. Then there was a chance that they would both be able to pull Sasuke up, and they'd all be fine. Either that, or Sasuke could pull him and Naruto down with him, and none of them would survive this episode.

Shikamaru's brain hurt, and so did his heart. He had done way too much thinking and caring for the day.

I want to be like him!

In the split second that Sasuke's hand broke from Naruto's, Shikamaru made his decision.

He continued running the remaining few yards, panting heavily, and grabbed Sasuke's wrist.

The three of them stayed there for a moment, while Naruto and Shikamaru caught their breath. Sasuke didn't look either one of them in the eye. Shikamaru watched as a tear landed on Sasuke's forehead, and assumed it was Naruto's. But when he looked over, his eyes were completely dry, all sadness replaced with determination.

So… it was Shikamaru that was crying? And he couldn't even figure out why.

Together, Shikamaru and Naruto got Sasuke back onto the solid floor. Slightly embarrassed, Shikamaru had a fleeting urge to wipe his tear off of Sasuke. But Naruto got to his face first.

And punched it with all of his strength.

"You complete and total moron! And you call me stupid! Do you have any idea how worried I was? There are people who fucking care about you! Like me!" and then Naruto was hugging Sasuke, nearly strangling him, and Sasuke's hands were awkwardly placed on Naruto's back, and soon they were both crying, too.

Shikamaru then realized why he had been crying. He knew that this was going to happen, from the moment he figured out where they were going. He knew that the second Sasuke was there, Shikamaru wouldn't matter anymore. He usually handled the thought quite well, but today it all came and smacked him in the face.

Shikamaru felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around. Naruto was facing him, wiping at his eyes. He had a sort of sad smile on his face.

"Thank you for following me. And thanks, so, so much for what you did. You were… and I can't believe… just… thanks." And Shikamaru was the recipient of an over tight bear hug. Startled, he hugged back. He impulsively checked over Naruto's shoulder to see what Sasuke was doing. He was just sitting against a wall, his knees to his chest, thankfully. Then the hug was broken, and Naruto was handing Shikamaru money.

"Go rent us a movie and make some popcorn, okay? We'll be there a couple of minutes after you."

"Sure," Shikamaru said, accepting the money. When Naruto turned to go back to Sasuke, Shikamaru spun him around. "Don't be too long." He put the money into Naruto's shirt pocket and patted him on the chest.

Shikamaru would never be Naruto's Sasuke, but as long as he could be there with him, for him, and have him be there for him, it was enough.

It was enough.

--

"When I'm with Naruto, he makes me want to walk with him."


End file.
